Cane cutter



INVENTORS ATTORN EY WITNSES.'

July 2l, 1925. 1,546,550

H. v. PATTEN ET AL.

CANE CUTTER Filed July l0, 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 MTQRNEY wlTNEssES 1,546,550' Y H. v. PATTEN ET AL July 2,1. 1925;

CANE CUTTER Filed .my lo, 1922 5 sheets-she@ s ATTORN EY WITNESSES 1 July 2l, 19.25. l v 1,546,550 i H. v. PATTEN ET Ax.

4 GANE CUTT Filed July 10. 1922 5 sheets-sheet 4 mvENToRS' ATTORNEY WITNESES I Jly 21, 1925.

H. v. -PATTEN ET AL CANE CUTTER 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July lO, 1922 /'fzzzm Z6'. Nee/Per: .7'0Zec/o A'rroRNEY Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.`

HAROLD v. rArrIiN, ERNEST o; MEEKEB., AND DIEGO sacro TOLEDO, or nino, y riianironv or Hawaii.

CANE OUr'riizaQ Application tiled July 10, 1922, Serial No,

To all who/m t may conce/m:

Be it known that we, HAROLD V. PAT'IEN, E'Rii'iisr C; lhliiiinnn, and Dinso Bno'ro TOLEDO, the two former citizens of the United States, and the latter a subject of the King of Spain, who tiled his declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States on June 1st7 1921, and all residing` at Hilo, Territory of Hawaii, have invented new and useful 'Improvements in Cane Cutters, of which the following is a. specification. Y

This invention relates to ali-apparatus for cutting cane and the like, the general Object of the invention being to provide a number of screw shafts for bringing the cane.

against the knives so that all the canein the row will he cuti'egardless of the position of the stalks in the row. f 1

Another object of the invention is to pro vide a plurality of knives which are yield ingly :held and which are flexibly connected with each other. l Y

rl"his invention also consists in certain other features of construction and iii the combination and arrangement of the several parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated` in the accompanying.drawings and specifically .pointed out in the appended claims.

.1n describingthe invention in detail, refei'ence will` be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the invention showing the same being attached to a tractor.

`Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

The remaining figures are detail Views.

1n these views A. and B indicate a pair of 'frames which are suitably attached to the front of the tractor C, the two frames being connected together by the bridge piece 1. Each frame consists of a pair of upright members 2, connected together by the rib 3, and the shaft L1- which is provided with flanged bearings. A centrally arranged ver tical rib 5 is connected with the part 3 of each frame and this rib supports the castn ings 6 through which the shaft -1 passes and which forms housing for the worin gears i and 7', one of which is located on shaft 4 and the other is slidably mounted on a verlgears 14 which mesh with each other and Awith the gears 10 and the front one of which has thedisc knife 15 secured to its axle so Uthat the knife will be rotated through the gears and shaft 8. castings 13 carry the sprockets 16, the rear one of which is connected with the gear 12 Each of the side knife Eri and an endless chain 1?" passes over these sprockets so that the movement of the rear sprocket will be communicated to the front sprocket. This front sprocket has secured tothe lower end of its shaftA a disc knife 18. "The side castings are of greater length than the middle casting so that the side knives are arranged in advance of the middle knife, as shown in the plan View. The knives are beveled on the bottom sides from the center to the cutting edge so that they will have a tendency to ride on top of the ground iiistead of digging ini The center casting is hinged to the side castings by the hinges 19 'and the side castings are connected by the hinges 2O with the side plates 21 which are 'pivotally connected with the uprights 2, as

shown at 22. This arrangement of parts `will permit the knives to rise and fall with the ground and the center knife' is yield- Aingly heid in contact with the ground. by 4means of a spring 23 on shaft 8 which has its upper end bearing against the bottoni of casting 6 and its lower end against the gear `11. Vile prefer toniake-the upper part of the shaft 8 of hexagon shape and this part ofthe shaft works in a similar shaped bore of the gear 7. The gears 11 and 12 are shaped as shown so that the gears will remain in mesh at any angle that the knife castings maytake. This arrangement of the knives and their associated parts will permit the knives to cut the cane growingout of the tops and sides of the rows. Shafts fi are driven from a part of the tractor by means of the sprockets 24 and the chains In order to bring the canes to the knives we provide a pair of screw shafts 2T for each set of knives. These shafts are each formed of a wooden screw having a shaft 28 pass ing through the same and the. upper end ot the shaft is connected by the universal coupling 29 with a shaft 30 which is geared to as shaft 31 which is connected by the sprocket 32 and chain 33 witlrthe shaft 4. The lower end of each shaft 28 is` rotatably supported in a shoe 34, the central shoe being formed double to receive the ends of the central pair of conveyors which are convergent. from the tramesA and B. A slipperf is slidably supported on the end ofeach shoe and `is held in its projected position by a. spring-3G. Each slipper carries a roller 37 tor enga-ging.thegroundl ltthis slipper should strike any obstruction the spring will act as a shock absorber to prevent damage.r of the parts and will: returnthe slipper. to normal position after it has passed the obstruction. A vertically arranged plate 38 isarranged under each conveyor,fsaid plate being ot' tapered formation and has itswide end connected with the frame 2 by the slot and pin connections 39; Eachplate isalso connected with the shaft 28. by the bearings 40. TheV outer end of each. plate carries. a-castingl4l which supports a roller1 42 andthe pin 43, said pin passing thro-ugh the arms 44 which are connecte'd. with the shoe. As shown the castingI for wheel42of' theinner pair of plates passes from oneplate. to the other so that thewheel .is located between the two plates. The wheels on the outerdevice are located to theouterV side of each plate. Arein'forcing strip 45 issecured to the bottom oeach platek andhasa depending part 46 to which a bottom plate 47 is adjustably secured by the. bolts 48. This bottom plate has its Yfront end pivotally secured to the front casting 41 andhas a bracketl 49fadjacent its rear end which supports a roller 50, this roller engaging1 the. ground. It will be seen that each plate 38 will move with the conveyor due to itsslot andpin connection with the supporting trame sovthaty the conveyor assembly can ride over the ground. rhe'bottom plates 47 will remain close to the ground at all times sothatv all' the canes will be forced against the knives. Our invention will cut the cane regardless of the angles the stalks grew in. lt is a well known fact that the cane does not grow straight up but the stalks will extend at' all angles in the row. Our conveyors will direct all the stalks against the knives and we may provide suitable conveyor means 'for receiving the cut caneszfrom the knives. The arrangement ot the conveyor parts will permit the device to be used on unleve-l ground.

It is. thought. from` the: foregoing descriptionV that the advantages and'novel features of the invention will beV readily apparent.

lVe' desire it to beunderstoodthat we may make changes in` the construction and in the combination andv arrangement oi' the several parts,l provided that. such. changes fall within the scope-.ofthe appended claims.

that we claimde-2- l. An apparatus. of the class described comprising` a supporting frame, screw shapedconveyingl means extendingy downwardly and forwardly from the frame, cutting means supported by the frame7 means for permitting t-heicuttingmeans to conform to the ground over. which. they; are passing, such meansfin'cludingg spring means Jfor pressing one ot the cutting' means against the ground.y

2.An. apparatus: of the`r classY described comprising a pairl of .supporting frames, a set of knives carried by each frame, a pair of longitudinally ext-ending' screw shaped conveyors supportedl by each frame, a shoe. connected with the front end of theouter conveyor of each pair, a double shoe connected with the front-ends of the'inner conveyors of the pairs, rollers.supporting the front ends of the conveyors, vertically arranged plateslocated below the conveyors andy movablyconnected with the supporting frames,- thelower. part-of: each plate being movably supported on theupper part and a roller supporting? the flower part.

Intestimony whereofwezatiix our signat-ures.

HAROLD V. PATTEN, ERNEST. C. MEEKER. DIEGO BRUTO TOLEDO.. 

